DOCSLIB.ORG

Comp Prog Info MM 8-11

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Comp Prog Info MM 8-11 FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC Masters of Music Composition The Florida International University MM in Music Composition Program Philosophy and Mission Statement. The MM in Composition at Florida International University is designed to assist students with the development of their own individual voices as composers while helping them to continue to develop their craft. Numerous performance opportunities of students’ works by excellent performers and ensembles as well as hands on experience in the use of new technologies including computer music, video, and interactive and notational software are an integral part of the curriculum. Many of our graduates have continued studies at other prestigious schools and have been the recipients of ASCAP and BMI Student Composition awards. The two- year MM in composition prepares composers for either continued graduate studies or as skillful composers continuing in a variety of other related occupations. For more information regarding the program contact: Dr. Orlando Jacinto Garcia, Director Music Composition Florida International University School of Music WPAC 141 University Park Miami, Florida 33199 phone (305) 348-3357; fax (305) 348-4073 email: [email protected] School of Music web page: music.fiu.edu Rev 8/11 ADMISSION AND GENERAL REQUIREMENTS (Effective fall 2011) Admission into the composition program is contingent upon the approval of the composition faculty and is dependent upon the applicant’s portfolio and previous undergraduate course work. A minimum 3.0 GPA in the student’s last 60 credits of undergraduate work is also required for admittance. Students should have a BM degree in music composition or the equivalent. After initial admission to the program, students will be required to pass history and theory placement tests and if necessary do remedial work in these areas. The requirements for the MM in composition include, in addition to the courses listed below the presentation of a Masters Composition Recital, the successful completion of a Masters Thesis project (including a research/analytical paper as well as a composition), and the passing of a final oral exam (thesis defense). MM IN MUSIC COMPOSITION COURSE REQUIREMENTS Graduate Music Composition (3 sem. @ 3 cr. ea.) 9 Composers Forum/Workshop 4 (4 sem. @ 1 cr. ea.) Electronic Music 4 (2 sem @ 2 cr. ea. from MIDI, Emus I, II, III, etc) Analytical Techniques 3 Electives (To be selected in consultation 3 with the composition area director) Graduate Music Electives 2 Special Topics in Music History 3 Bibliography 2 Thesis/Recital (includes private lessons and 6 45-minute recital of student's compositions during last semester) __ Total 36 2 MM THEORY/COMP SUGGESTED 2 YEAR SCHEDULE MUC 6251 Grad Music Composition 3 MUC 5932 Comp Forum 1 MUC 6305 Electronic Music Lab I 2 MUS 5711 Bibliography 2 Grad Music Electives 1 Total 9 MUC 6251 Grad Music Composition 3 MUC 5932 Comp Forum 1 MUC 6306 Electronic Music Lab II* 2 MUC 5629 Analytical Techniques 3 Total 9 MUC 6251 Grad Music Composition 3 MUC 5932 Comp Forum 1 MUT Elective 3 MUS 5990 Thesis 2 Total 9 MUC 5932 Comp Forum 1 MUS 5990 Thesis 4 MUH 6937 Special Topics 3 Grad Music Elective 1 Total 9 *Other combinations of electronic music classes beyond those listed are possible depending upon the students background and placement test results. FIU MM IN MUSIC COMPOSITION COURSE DESCRIPTIONS Graduate Music Composition: Graduate level advanced composition courses designed to further the development of students' compositional abilities through the writing of evolved works. Compositions written at this level are developed in conjunction with the instructor taking into account each student’s strengths, weaknesses, and aesthetics. The format for these courses consists of private instruction, one hour per week (prerequisite understanding of the variety of aesthetics utilized by composers in the 20th Century and admission into the Composition Program). Composition Forum/Workshop: A forum designed for discussions, lectures, performances, and demonstrations of issues and concerns of interest to composers. Guest composers and performers are presented from time to time. Guests have included George Lewis, Steve Reich, Jonathan Kramer, Earle Brown, Joan LaBarbara, Tania Leon, Bernard Rands, Mario Lavista, Phillip Glass, Larry Polansky, James Tenney, Christian Wolff, Anthony de Mare, Drew Krause, Robert Dick, 3 Composition Course Descriptions continued Lukas Foss, Robert Craft, Jin Hi Kim, Donald Erb, George Crumb, Lukas Foss, Chinary Ung, Kathleen Supove, among many others. Number of meetings may vary from semester to semester. Analytical Techniques: An analysis course designed to give graduate music students an overview of Common Practice as well as 20th Century analytical techniques. Course includes the analysis of Baroque through late Romantic works as well as the analysis of music from the 20th Century (required of all graduate music students). Comprehensive Theory: A course focusing on the exploration of a variety of Comprehensive theoretical approaches to music. Includes an examination of the theories of Kramer, Pozi/Escot, Meyer, Rahn, Tenney. etc., with respect to the experience, perception, analysis, and subsequent understanding of music. Experimental Arts: A course that allows students from music, dance, visual arts, theater, and other related areas to work together to collaborate and create multi-disciplinary work. The course includes an overview of performance art and other experimental Art works/forms that have evolved in the 20th century. Special Topics Seminar: A course designed to focus on composer(s) or compositional schools. Includes the analysis of works and aesthetics of a group or given composer. Possible seminars include the music of Stravinsky, the music of Cage, Brown, Wolff, and Feldman, the music of the second Viennese School, etc. 12 Tone/Set Theory: A course designed to explore classical 12 tone technique as well as its evolution to total serialization. In addition, set theory and its applications as an analytical and compositional tool will be explored. Texts may include the works of Rahn, Forte, Babbitt, etc. Schenkerian Analysis: A course designed to give students practical experience using reduction analysis. The writings of Schenker as well as subsequent scholars including Forte, Narmour, and others will be also be examined. Advanced Orchestration: The exploration of orchestration techniques utilized by composers from the Classical era through today. Includes the analysis of works and the writing and orchestrating of works in the style of the composers being studied. Thesis: Credits are given for work done by the student toward the completion of a major work as well as analytical/research paper, both of which are required for graduation. Thesis credits are taken in consultation with the student's composition area advisor. The FIU New Music Ensemble: Founded in the fall of 1987, the FIU New Music Ensemble specializes in the performance of contemporary chamber, experimental and electronic music with an emphasis in the music of the last 50 years. The ensemble’s instrumentation changes from semester to semester allowing for the presentation of a variety of repertoire. Performances include those on campus each semester as well as those in the community at galleries, libraries, museums, and other universities/colleges in the region. The ensemble has recently been featured 4 Composition Course Descriptions continued at the Subtropics Music Festival, The Society of Composers National and Regional Conferences, and the National Conference of the College Music Society. To date the ensemble has presented music by a variety of composers representing a wide range of aesthetics, styles, and media from the US and diverse parts of the world including works written for the ensemble as well as works by young and established composers alike. The ensemble is made up of some of the School of Music’s best student performers. The FIU Music Technology Center (MTC) The FIU Electronic Music Studio was founded in the spring of 1989 and during its time was one of the leading MIDI studios in the area. In the fall of 1996 the FIU Music Technology Center (MTC) was created updating the studio to its current state of the Art status. The new center includes two state-of-the-art music technology facilities at FIU. The Music Technology Center (MTC) houses Mac G5 and iMac computers equipped with a variety of advanced music hardware and software. Included in this facility are Kurzweil K2vx sampler/synthesizers and Yamaha EX5 synthesizers. Students may use programs such as Digital Performer, Pro Tools, Peak, Sound Hack, Max/MSP, and SuperCollider for composition projects. Additionally, the MTC laboratory has a Tascam DA-88 for digital multitrack recording and editing, and a Yamaha 01V mixer, and Genelec speakers with 5.1 channels of playback. The Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) Laboratory is available for use by all School of Music students. The facility has 15 iMac workstations with Kurzweil K2vx and Roland synthesizers. Students may use programs such as SoundHack, Pro Tools, Peak, Max/MSP, and Finale to create original compositions or to complete assignments from other music courses. Students may also use educational CD-ROMs to learn about music analysis and to practice ear training and music theory fundamentals. FIU ELECTRONIC MUSIC COURSES Introduction to MIDI Technology: Students learn music notation, sequencing, and basic web use and design. Programs such as Finale
Load more

Recommended publications
  • UC San Diego. Center for Research in Computing and the Arts Collection
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8h41ptz No online items UC San Diego. Center for Research in Computing and the Arts Collection Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Copyright 2012 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla 92093-0175 [email protected] URL: http://libraries.ucsd.edu/collections/sca/index.html UC San Diego. Center for RSS 1225 1 Research in Computing and the Arts Collection Descriptive Summary Languages: English Contributing Institution: Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla 92093-0175 Title: UC San Diego. Center for Research in Computing and the Arts Collection Identifier/Call Number: RSS 1225 Physical Description: 3.6 Linear feet(8 archives boxes and 1 card file box) Date (inclusive): 1969-2012 Abstract: The UCSD Center for Research in Computing and the Arts (CRCA) collection documents the activities of the experimental music and computer-based music research unit between 1972-1993. Admisistrative History The Project for Music Experiment, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, opened in 1972 under the direction of UCSD professor Roger Reynolds. In 1973, the project became an organized research unit at the University of California, San Diego and was re-named the Center for Music Experiment (CME). Although autonomous, the Center was monitored by an inter-departmental advisory board with UCSD Music Department faculty. The director was nominated by the board and appointed by the Chancellor for terms up to five years. The Center was designed as a performance, composition, and a technological research space for innovations with digital computer music. The Center also facilitated the Studio for Extended Performance, the Extended Vocal Techniques Ensemble (EVTE), and the KIVA Improvisation Ensemble.
    [Show full text]
  • Now Again New Music Music by Bernard Rands Linda Reichert, Artistic Director Jan Krzywicki, Conductor with Guest Janice Felty, Mezzo-Soprano Now Again
    Network for Now Again New Music Music by Bernard Rands Linda Reichert, Artistic Director Jan Krzywicki, Conductor with guest Janice Felty, mezzo-soprano Now Again Music by Bernard Rands Network for New Music Linda Reichert, Artistic Director Jan Krzywicki, Conductor www.albanyrecords.com TROY1194 albany records u.s. 915 broadway, albany, ny 12207 with guest Janice Felty, tel: 518.436.8814 fax: 518.436.0643 albany records u.k. box 137, kendal, cumbria la8 0xd mezzo-soprano tel: 01539 824008 © 2010 albany records made in the usa ddd waRning: cOpyrighT subsisTs in all Recordings issued undeR This label. The story is probably apocryphal, but it was said his students at Harvard had offered a prize to anyone finding a wantonly decorative note or gesture in any of Bernard Rands’ music. Small ensembles, single instrumental lines and tones convey implicitly Rands’ own inner, but arching, songfulness. In his recent songs, Rands has probed the essence of letter sounds, silence and stress in a daring voyage toward the center of a new world of dramatic, poetic expression. When he wrote “now again”—fragments from Sappho, sung here by Janice Felty, he was also A conversation between composer David Felder and filmmaker Elliot Caplan about Shamayim. refreshing his long association with the virtuosic instrumentalists of Network for New Music, the Philadelphia ensemble marking its 25th year in this recording. These songs were performed in a 2009 concert for Rands’ 75th birthday — and offer no hope for winning the prize for discovering extraneous notes or gestures. They offer, however, an intimate revelation of the composer’s grasp of color and shade, his joy in the pulsing heart, his thrill at the glimpse of what’s just ahead.
    [Show full text]
  • Of Music PROGRAM
    FESTIVAL OF AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC at Rice University November 2-8, 1992 celebrating American Music Week CHAMBER MUSIC OF ROSS LEE FINNEY Tuesday, November 3, 1992 8:00p.m. Lillian H. Duncan Recital Hall ~herd RICE UNIVERSITY Sc~l Of Music PROGRAM Sonata No. 2 in C for cello and piano (1950) Ross Lee Finney Introduction (Adagio espressivo) (b. 1906) Allegro con brio Adagio arioso Prestissimo Samuel McGill, cello John Hendrickson, piano Quartet for oboe, cello, Ross Lee Finney percussion and piano (1969) -Prologue - I. Allegro moderato - Interlude - II. Allegro capriccioso Janet Rarick, oboe Michael Dudley, cello Richard Brown, percussion John Hendrickson, piano INTERMISSION Selections from Chamber Music (1951) Ross Lee Finney (Text by James Joyce) III. At that hour when all things have repose ... VIII. Who goes amid the green wood ... XV. From dewy dreams, my soul, arise ... XVIII. 0 Sweetheart, hear you your lover's tale ... XIX. Be not sad ... XXIII. This heart that flutters near my heart ... XXV. Lightly come or lightly go ... XXX. Love came to us in time gone by .. XXXIII. Now, 0 now, in this brown land .. XXXIV. Sleep now, 0 sleep now, 0 you unquiet heart! ... XXXVI. I hear an army charging upon the land ... Jeanette Lombard, soprano Jeanne Kierman, piano Quintet for Piano and Strings (1953) Ross Lee Finney Adagio sostenuto; Allegro marcato Allegro scherzando Nocturne: Adagio sostenuto Allegro appassionato Kenneth Goldsmith, violin I Julie Savignon, violin II Csaba Erdelyi, viola Norman Fischer, cello Jeanne Kierman, piano BIOGRAPHY For more than fifty years, ROSS LEE FINNEY has been prominent both as a composer and as a teacher.
    [Show full text]
  • Composer Symposium with Bright Sheng & Bernard Rands
    the philadelphia music project presents new frontiers in music: Composer Symposium with Bright Sheng & Bernard Rands thursday, may 27 registration deadline: monday, may 24, 2010 The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage This event is free, but registration is required. 1608 Walnut Street, 18th floor To register, please call PMP at 267.350.4960 Philadelphia, PA 19103 or email Elizabeth Sayre at [email protected] moderated by Melissa Smey Executive Director, Miller Theatre 4:15 – 4:30 pm Sign-in 4:30 – 6:30 pm Symposium 6:30 pm Reception More than two centuries of ongoing international and cross-cultural encounters have had a profound influence on the music of the United States. In this PMP Composer Symposium, Bernard Rands and Bright Sheng—both preeminent North American composers, both born overseas—discuss their music and careers. Rands and Sheng will share recordings and insights into their compositional processes and influences, including their studies around the world and here in the States. They will also address the business of composition: commissioning, publishing, recording, and more. Melissa Smey, director of New York City’s groundbreaking contemporary music presenter Miller Theatre, leads the discussion. about the composers: Bright Sheng’s music is noted for its lyrical melodies, propulsive Bartokian rhythms, and dramatic theatricality. Many of the Shanghai-born composer’s works exhibit strong Asian influences, a result of his decades-long study of folk music from China to Tibet. The MacArthur Foundation proclaimed Sheng “an innovative composer who merges diverse musical customs in works that transcend conventional aesthetic boundaries.” He has been the recipient of MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships and the Naumberg Award.
    [Show full text]
  • A Study of the Spatial Aspects of Edgard Varèse's Work, Part II
    g e n e r a l a r t i c l e The Last Word Is: Imagination A Study of the Spatial Aspects of Edgard Varèse’s Work, Part II: Visual Evidence R o g e R R e y n o L d S Edgard Varèse was one of the singular musical innovators of the creative aspirations and barriers to their fulfillment (techno- 20th century. Central to his thinking was an informed yet uniquely logical, contextual, logistical), it is useful to consider what imaginative position regarding metaphoric “space.” Through contacts he did in situations over which he had unimpeded control. with science, he developed an idiosyncratic vocabulary involving ABSTRACT “rotating planes,” “beams,” “projection” and “penetration.” His This was not the case in the realm of musical composition outlook was both conceptually and musically (especially in Intégrales) because limitations of performance capacity, as well as the manifested. The first part of a two-part article, “The Last Word Is: available strategies for the electronic manipulation and dis- Imagination, Part I: The Visual Evidence” (published in Perspectives of semination of sound, thwarted the demands of his imagina- New Music), references Varèse’s writings and lectures. The second tion. But in other ways, his work—musical sketches, graphic part, published here, is concerned with the visual evidence, a context art, marginalia, doodles and diagrams to be found among his within which his spatial ideas could be directly manifested without the distortions of electroacoustic sound projection or vagaries of instrumental materials in the Sacher Archives—manifests directly the ways and vocal performance.
    [Show full text]
  • Bernard Rands Cello Concerto No. 1
    PROGRAM NOTES by Phillip Huscher Bernard Rands Born March 2, 1934, Sheffield, England. Currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts, and Chicago, Illinois. Cello Concerto No. 1 Rands composed this cello concerto in 1996, on a commission from the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the seventieth birthday of Mstislav Rostropovich, to whom it is dedicated. The first performances were given by Rostropovich and the Boston Symphony, with Seiji Ozawa conducting, on April 3, 4, and 5, 1997, at Symphony Hall in Boston. The orchestra consists of three flutes, two alto flutes and piccolo, two oboes and english horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones and tuba, two harps, piano, timpani, percussion (vibraphone, marimba, xylophone, glockenspiel, tubular bells, bongos, triangle, medium and large tam-tams, bass drum, almglocken), and strings. Performance time is approximately twenty-seven minutes. Concertos are often written for a particular performer. Sometimes that player is the composer himself, writing for his own instrument—Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, Brahms, Bartók, and Stravinsky, for example, all composed piano concertos which they introduced themselves. Many concertos were written for virtuoso soloists—Brahms’s Violin Concerto was composed for Joseph Joachim and Elgar’s for Fritz Kreisler; Copland’s Clarinet Concerto was designed with Benny Goodman in mind; Ravel’s Left-Hand Piano Concerto was written on a commission from Paul Wittgenstein, who had lost his right arm in World War I. Like Britten’s Symphony for Cello and Orchestra and Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto, this cello concerto by Bernard Rands was composed for Mstislav Rostropovich, one of the most formidable performers of our time.
    [Show full text]
  • PRINTABLE PROGRAM Bernard Rands
    The University at Buffalo Department of Music and The Robert & Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music present Honoring Composer Bernard Rands Tuesday, October 24, 2017 7:30pm Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall PROGRAM Coleccion Nocturna David Felder (b. 1953) Adrián Sandí, clarinet Eric Huebner, piano "now again" – fragments from Sappho Bernard Rands (b. 1934) Tiffany Du Mouchelle, mezzo-soprano solo Slee Sinfonietta Matthew Chamberlin, conductor Intermission Linea Luciano Berio (1925 – 2003) Eric Huebner and Christopher Guzman, piano Tom Kolor and Stephen Solook, percussion Folk Songs Bernard Rands I. Missus Murphy’s Chowder II. The Water is Wide III. Mi Hamaca IV. Dafydd Y Garreg Wen V. On Ilkley Moor Baht ‘At VI. I Died for Love VII. Über d’ Alma VIII. Ar Hyd y Nos IX. La Vera Sorrentina Tiffany Du Mouchelle, soprano Slee Sinfonietta Matthew Chamberlin, conductor Slee Sinfonietta Matthew Chamberlin, conductor Emlyn Johnson, flute Erin Lensing, oboe Adrián Sandí, clarinet Michael Tumiel, clarinet Jon Nelson, trumpet Kristen Theriault, harp Eric Huebner, piano Chris Guzman, piano Tom Kolor, percussion Steve Solook, percussion Tiffany Du Mouchelle, soprano (solo) Julia Cordani, soprano Minxin She, alto Hanna Hurwitz, violin Victor Lowrie, viola Katie Weissman, ‘cello About Bernard Rands Through a catalog of more than a hundred published works and many recordings, Bernard Rands is established as a major figure in contemporary music. His work Canti del Sole, premiered by Paul Sperry, Zubin Mehta, and the New York Philharmonic, won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize in Music. His large orchestral suites Le Tambourin, won the 1986 Kennedy Center Friedheim Award. His work Canti d'Amor, recorded by Chanticleer, won a Grammy award in 2000.
    [Show full text]
  • Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs, Summer, 1965-1966
    TANGLEWOOD Festival of Contemporary American Music August 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 1966 Sponsored by the Berkshire Music Center In Cooperation with the Fromm Music Foundation I " STMVINSKY tt.VlOW agon vam 7/re Boston Symphony SCHULLER 7 STUDIES ox THEMES of PAUL KLEE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA/ERICH lEINSDORf under Leinsdorf Leinsdorf expresses with great power the vivid colors of Schuller's Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Kiee and, in the same album, Stravinsky's ballet music from Agon. Forthe majorsinging roles in Menotti's dramatic cantata, The Death of the Bishop of Brindisi. Leinsdorf astutely selected George London, and Lili Chookasian, of whom the Chicago Daily Tribune has written, "Her voice has the Boston symphony ecich teinsooof / luminous tonal sheath that makes listening luxurious. menotti Also hear Chookasian in this same album, in songs from the death op the Bishop op BRSndlSI Schbnberg's Gurre-Lieder. In Dynagroove sound. Qeonoe ionoon • tilt choolusun s<:b6notec,/ou*«*--l(eoeo. sooq of the wooo-6ove ac^acm rca Victor fa @ The most trusted name in sound ^V V BERKSHIRE MUSIC CENTER ERICH LeinsDORF, Director Joseph Silverstein, Chairman of the Faculty Aaron Copland, Chairman of the Faculty Emeritus Louis Speyer, Assistant Director Victor Babin, Chairman of the Tanglewood Institute Harry J. Kraut, Administrator FESTIVAL of CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN MUSIC presented in cooperation with THE FROMM MUSIC FOUNDATION Paul Fromm, President Alexander Schneider, Associate Director FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM Contemporary Music Activities Gunther Schuller, Head Roger Sessions, George Rochberg, and Donald Martino, Guest Teachers Paul Zukofsky, Fromm Teaching Fellow James Whitaker, Chief Coordinator Viola C Aliferis, Assistant Administrator The Berkshire Music Center is maintained for advanced study in music sponsored by the BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Erich Leinsdorf, Music Director Thomas D.
    [Show full text]
  • Bernard Rands
    NWCR591 Bernard Rands 1. Canti Lunatici (1980) * ....................................... (28:20) 2. Canti del Sole (1982) **....................................... (25:15) *Carol Plantamura, soprano; **Paul Sperry, tenor SONOR Ensemble of the University of California, San Diego: John Fonville, flute; William Powell, clarinet; Edwin Harkins, trumpet; Miles Anderson, trombone; Cecil Lytle, piano; Daryl Pratt, percussion; Dan Dunbar, percussion; David Yoken, percussion; Janos Négyesy, violin; György Négyesy, viola; Peter Farrell, cello; Peter Rofe, contrabass; Bernard Rands, conductor 3. Obbligato (1983) ................................................. (12:30) Miles Anderson, trombone; Columbia String Quartet: Benjamin Hudson, violin; Carol Zeavin, violin; Sarah Clarke, viola; Eric Bartlett, cello Total playing time: 66:14 Ê 1986, 1991 & © 1991 Composers Recordings, Inc. © 2007 Anthology of Recorded Music, Inc. Notes The practice of creating a large scale vocal composition out of progressive and composer-friendly music departments in the an “anthology” of texts by several authors, sometimes even realm of American academe. In the Fall of 1985 he became several languages, collected by a composer for that specific professor of music at Boston University. While at the purpose, is largely a phenomenon of our own times; it University of San Diego, Rands founded and conducted contrasts with the way the great song composers of past SONOR, and extraordinary new music ensemble of student centuries—above all Schubert and Wolf—tended to seize and faculty
    [Show full text]
  • Nash, Gary Powell Rhapsody for Three
    Rhapsody for Three (1998) Gary Powell Nash “Rhapsody for Three for clarinet, violin and piano is a ten-minute composition with two major sections. The work begins with clarinet, violin and piano cadenzas, each supported by one of the three major harmonies of the composition. The main melodic material stems from these cadenzas. The first major section is moderately slow, quarter note = 60, and consists of a quintuple meter melody which is written with alternating measures of 2/4 and 3/4. The second section, which is slightly faster, quarter note = 88, is approached by a metric modulation and settles into a consistent quadruple meter.” ─Gary Powell Nash The world premiere of Rhapsody for Three was on October 13, 1998 at Delta State University, Cleveland, Mississippi. Gary Powell Nash (born 1964, Flint, Michigan) holds the Bachelor of Music in Music Education degree from Michigan State University, the Master of Music degree in Composition from Western Michigan University, and PhD in Music Composition from Michigan State University. His teachers include Ramon Zupko, Mark Sullivan, Charles Ruggiero, Jere Hutcheson, Bernard Rands, Jacob Druckman, and George Tsontakis. Nash’s composition portfolio consists of five orchestral works, including an alto saxophone concerto, three symphonic band compositions, two choral pieces, four art songs (one in Chinese), two electroacoustic works, and several instrumental chamber compositions. His music has been performed in all major regions of the United States and in Taipei, Taiwan. Nash’s orchestra works have been performed by the Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago Civic, Cincinnati, Detroit, and Flint Symphony Orchestras. Nash’s numerous grants, commissions, and awards include a 1994 ASCAP Foundation Grant to Young Composers Award, a 1995 Minority Outreach Fellowship to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Artists’ Colony, and a 1998 commission for the Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Composers Workshop in Carnegie Hall where his composition Brass Magnolia Suite for trumpet, horn, bass trombone, and percussion was premiered in April, 1999.
    [Show full text]
  • ST276 HR Cover.Jpg
    THE AMERICAN MASTERS SERIES PURE The exuberantly prolific Augusta Read Thomas has no time for creative boundaries By Thomas May 24 April 2018 / Strings StringsMagazine.com 25 ANTHONY BARLICH o matter how gloomy she withdrew because she felt they failed to you may be feeling meet her standards. about the state of the The early Edgar Allan Poe–inspired opera world, it seems impos- Ligeia (1994), for example, was commissioned sible to come away by Mstislav Rostropovich for the Evian- from an encounter les-bains Spring Festival in France, and was with Augusta Read produced multiple times in Europe and the Thomas without a surge of fresh hope. The United States back in the 1990s, but Thomas NChicago-based composer radiates an exuber- withdrew it “because I’m a perfectionist and ance about music’s inexhaustible potential I was so young when I wrote it.” Currently, for that is both powerful and infectious. And she Santa Fe Opera’s new initiative Opera for All has been channeling it for decades into a Voices: Stories of our Time, Thomas is at work vast, ongoing body of compositions that rep- on an (as yet unnamed) one-act opera with resents one of the most remarkable achieve- the writer and literary scholar Leslie Dunton- ments of contemporary American music: a Downer (her librettist for Ligeia as well) to unique vision of the poetry of sound that is at premiere in the fall of 2019. the same time anchored in an exquisite Thomas has written extensively for attention to craft and technique. orchestra and for chamber configurations, It’s also easy to feel like a slacker when including a wide spectrum of pieces for confronted with Thomas’ prolific creativity.
    [Show full text]
  • Five Composers Set to Coachdownload Pdf(92
    Buffalo News June 3, 2012, 12:00 AM Five composers set to coach By Mary Kunz Goldman NEWS CLASSICAL MUSIC CRITIC Five composers are in residence this week at June in Buffalo, the University at Buffalo’s annual conference on avant-garde music. They will be coaching 26 students from around the world. “We not only select the Portrait of Professor David Felder in the Music Department composers based on the work Photographer: Douglas Levere that they produce, but also their abilities as a teacher,” says J.T. Rinker, the festival’s managing director. The student composers are a diverse group. “We have one from Turkey, one from Australia, a couple from Western Europe, and we have some students studying currently in the United States who originated in Asia and Europe.” The five composers are: David Felder, 58, head of UB’s music department and June in Buffalo’s creative director. A native of Cleveland, Felder studied at the University of California at San Diego with composers Bernard Rands, Roger Reynolds and Donald Erb. His compositions have been known to explore subtle gradations of pitch, and many of them are vivid, electronically enhanced soundscapes, some of them augmented by video. Robert Beaser, 58, received his master of music, M.M.A. and doctor of musical arts degrees from the Yale School of Music. He studied conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller and former BPO Music Director William Steinberg, and his composition teachers included Earle Brown, a composer associated with June in Buffalo’s early days. Beaser has been described as one of the first composers to explore the “new tonality,” a return to tonal writing as opposed to atonal and abstract music.
    [Show full text]